Thursday, September 09, 2010

I used this as an excuse to take him out to lunch without the noise that is my mother. She was a bit miffed, but that's to be expected as she does not like to be left out of anything.

My dad got all dressed up. He had on his best old man Norm Thompson sweater (which unless i miss my guess was a present from my mother), powder blue pants (covered with cat hair) to match his sweater and shiny brown loafers with black socks.

It was so cute i almost cried.

I sometimes think my dad is not really doing very well mentally, but most of it is because he is damned near deaf, and despite wearing two hearing aids, has trouble following a conversation, especially in a crowd.

But one on one, he's doing fine. That makes me happy.

We had a lovely time. I need to figure out how to get him out alone again. And don't suggest that i alternate taking my mother out alone, that's a price i'm not willing to pay.

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Two unrelated things:

I am wearing a pair of Carhartt overalls. That makes me feel good.

I just put Bag Balm on my new boob scar. It says it's for chapped teats.......

I guess if he was wearing what he felt comfortable in and he enjoyed the lunch and the conversation (as much as he could follow), that's all that matters. My 88 year old mum has got to the stage where the biggest enjoyment is always the food. Nothing else matters very much.

My gram is 91 and she is recently starting to slip a little, memory-wise. But for year, doctors, nurse,s etc have been insisting on senility where there is non (and I assure you it's not wishful thinking on our part). Basically, it was a combo of not being able to hear and not really giving a shit what most people have to say.

Bag balm has much better packaging than udder butter, not to mention it's good for chapped hands.

Coordinate a weekly date with your Dad and disguise it with an elaborate kidnapping hoax involving the staff at the ASL facility. It will be fun. He can tell your mother that he is a secret government agent and requires regular briefing, and it is her patriotic duty yo eff off and leave him alone.

Exactly. When my husband takes my niece to the movies, which he does nearly every weekend, sweet thang, I am blissfully thrilled to be free of *both of them* for an afternoon. Much as I adore them, a Saturday afternoon alone is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Time with my dad away from my mom was the best, because my mom never. shuts.up.ever. She insisted on being a constant fact-checker and inserted reality into all his fish stories, which irritated both him and me.